Master-Arbeit Univ. St. Gallen, 2006.

Design thinking has attracted a significant amount of interest and attention from the non-design sector in areas such as finance, government services and transport. This has resulted in new definitions that appear to describe design thinking as the mythical process that generates innovation and as a result, creating confusion and causing some to question its meaning. Research was undertaken to explore the possible knowledge gap that exists between academic and practitioner understanding of design thinking and its practical application. The relationship between the two has been articulated and a data driven model of design thinking created to further understanding of the meaning of design thinking. Firstly, an initial literature review was conducted to examine the origins, ownership and relationship between design thinking and four other related terms. Secondly, four common characteristics of design thinking were identified from projects reported by academics and practitioners as examples of the application of design thinking. The literature review provided the point of departure for the design of the empirical research instrument (RI). From the initial literature review four common characteristics of design thinking was identified; they were: drivers , experts , impact and processes . The research methodology employed constructivist grounded theory using a multi-qualitative method to maximise the capacity to gather high quality data. Pilot studies were conducted internally to test out the research instrument. From the pilot studies an additional common characteristic identified: design problem , being traditional or non-traditional. Following the pilot studies, primary data collection methods of interviews and online survey were employed. A total of 56 participants took part in the study, the participants who took part were academics and design practitioners from around the world. A total of 13 interviews were conducted and 43 survey responses were collected. The interviews and online survey used in data collection formed two stages of a triangulation strategy that was used to explore all the research questions. ii Two data sets were created from the interviews and online survey, which were analysed by thematic analysis and content analysis. From the thematic analysis, the five common characteristics identified from the literature review and pilot studies were confirmed; two additional common characteristics were identified as multidisciplinary and knowledge . Content analysis was conducted to identify evidence to describe the 7 common characteristics identified. Furthermore, the modes of expression for design thinking were also identified from the data in order to explore its relationship to design education. Case study analysis was the third stage of the triangulation strategy employed. It was conducted to check the reliably of the findings. This involved three design school case studies and three practice-based case studies of which two were for product designs and one was for service design. A qualitative data model of design thinking was developed to present the findings of the research. The research was then validated by a PhD seminar at Lancaster University and a validation study with experienced design practitioners. A final literature review was conducted after the validation studies to compare the research findings to the most recently published literature. From the literature review and validation studies, any appropriate findings were incorporated into the theory constructed.

A crisis is something that can happen to all of us in an unexpected situation, and the school should be prepared in a way that is the best way to handle a situation with a wide foundation through a crisis plan. On a well-defined way, you should have a developed and relevant emergency plan. Defining the word crisis can be difficult, it is an individual interpretation, and to get found out what the word stands for and it have to be discussed. The two selected schools that I have chosen to interview have discussed the understanding of the word crisis in able to get what the word means for them. The two selected schools have come to the conclusion that a crisis is something that creates disturbances for people or a person concerned to the everyday way of living. The interview shows what the school does in practice in order to help the student to a better path through life, an option is to read much fiction or stories for the students to understand and relate to that there are other children who have the same or almost same problems in everyday life. How to manage a crisis is very relevant in today's society for the school to function in in best way, therefore, the purpose of this essay are to study the two selected schools' emergency plans and through an interview getting even more understanding how to work with a crisis plan and why crisis plan is important. The questions are: Which obligations have schools when it comes to crisis plans? How well prepared crisis plans have the two selected schools? How do teachers educate and capacitate in crisis management? One conclusion that my essay shows, is that training in crisis management and how much skill you need to create a well-developed crisis plan are very important parts. A crisis plan has to be constantly updated because it is necessary to constantly develop new ways of thinking and also to create an understanding of crisis management in schools.   Keywords: crisis preparedness, emergency plan, capacity building, definition, management

Thesis describes the concept of cloud computing and its development into today's form. First section defines cloud computing through several definitions. It also describes important capabilities of the technology. Second section is presenting case studies of cloud deployment in Czech companies. It is evaluating advantages and disadvantages of the particular solution in use. Third section is presenting results of quantitative research that was carried out on this topic with IT professionals working in Czech private sector.

Purpose: In the present study, we conducted a systematic review to investigate the core features of the definition of dyslexia across different disciplines according to their associated professional organizations and published research in order to evaluate the presence and type of inconsistencies within and across disciplines in how dyslexia is defined. Method: Definition statements of dyslexia from professional organizations in medicine, education, speech-language pathology, psychology, and the International Dyslexia Association were collected via scope of practice guidelines or via the organization's official website. Using a database with a wide disciplinary reach, we collected 764 of the most cited articles from 2000-2020 with subjects that were children formally identified with dyslexia. We created a coding scheme to examine specific core features of each article and professional organization's definition of dyslexia. We completed data analysis regarding the core features of definitions per organization and journal article discipline. Results: We report descriptive results for dyslexia definition statements from professional organizations and the collected articles. Chi-square tests of independence were conducted between each of the identified core features and professional discipline. We find statistically significant consistencies and inconsistencies in how the definition of dyslexia is reported across disciplines journals. Core features of dyslexia that are reported differently across disciplines include: neurobiological, genetic, normal intelligence, reading disorder, unrelated to environmental influences, word reading deficits, and visual processing deficits. Core features of dyslexia that are equally included as a characteristic of dyslexia are phonological deficits and that dyslexia is a learning disability. Core features that are equally not included as a characteristic of dyslexia included a spelling deficit, need for an IQ discrepancy, that dyslexia is a language-based disorder, or motor processing deficit. Conclusion: Although this study confirms the presence of some inconsistencies in the core features of how dyslexia is defined across different disciplines, other encouraging consistencies were found. Namely, across all disciplines researchers appear to acknowledge that dyslexia is a phonological deficit that doesn't require the presence of an IQ discrepancy. Future work should further analyze the specific diagnostic criteria used to classify children with dyslexia and whether such criteria vary across disciplines.

Syftet med studien var att ta reda på hur skolledare i en kommun beskriver och använderhandledning i verksamheten och hur specialpedagogens kunskaper i handledning tillvaratas.Till grund för studien låg tre frågeställningar vilka var; handledning, hur handledning användsi verksamheten, vilken form av handledning som bedrivs av specialpedagogen.Studien är en kvalitativ studie som bygger på halvstrukturerade intervjuer med tio skolledare,vars svar blivit kategoriserade med hänsyn till likheter och olikheter som presenteras iresultatet.Resultatet visar att de flesta av skolledarna i kommunen beskriver begreppet handledning somhjälp, stöd, råd och konsultation. Utifrån deras sätt att beskriva begreppet, menar skolledarnaatt handledning används. Likaså att specialpedagogens kompetens i handledning tillvaratas.Det har även framkommit i studien att en del av skolledarna gärna skulle vilja använda sig avhandledning som en möjlighet för att reflektera över det dagliga arbetet. Skolledarna menaratt handledningen tyvärr inte används i någon större utsträckning som en reflekterandemöjlighet på grund av att pedagogerna visar en motvilja att medverka. Dessutom menar de attresurserna inte riktigt räcker till.

This study addresses the paralegal occupation and how it is defined within the context of licensure, control, and regulation in the United States. Drawing upon social theories of the emergence of professions and the concept of degree of professionalization, the author discusses how the organization of occupations into the modern professions has directly influenced governmental regulation. Paralegalism is presented in terms of its status as an emerging occupation. The model of the professional (attorney) regulating the paraprofessional (paralegal) and controlling the legal knowledge base is explored. The study identifies measures taken by legislatures, courts, and bar associations and reports each state s definition of paralegal, provides the corresponding citation, and advises if mandatory paralegal licensure or certification has been attempted within that state. If attempted, the form of the mandate, licensure or certification, by whom it was attempted, and the status of the action is provided. Primary data sources employed in this qualitative content-analytic study consisted of state legislative and judicial materials. Secondary data sources consisted of selected documents published by professional organizations. The database was constructed using on-line legal resources and data were analyzed within states across the two variables, definition and mandate attempted. Although attorneys have embraced the concept of the paralegal paraprofessional and various state entities have attempted to define it, the results of this study indicate that there is little evidence of uniformity in form of definition across the states. Paralegals are defined by statute in 7 states, court rule in 9 states, court ruling in 6 states, and bar association in 15 states. Thirteen states have no formal definition. No state has adopted mandatory requirements for paralegals even though formal attempts have been made in four. In three of the four states, the action was proposed as mandatory certification rather than licensure. In each state, the actions were brought by different entities. Discussions for proposals continue in several states. / Ph. D.

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The concern of my work is primarily epistemological in nature. It is centered on the question of architectural space and the manner in which the framing of the definition of space affects architectural outcomes. This interest in definition dictated that the context of the work be theoretical as opposed to practical, universal rather than particular. This means that the particulars of an architectural work is not a primary concern and that issues such as site, programmatic concerns, economic or social issues were inconsequential in this investigation. The attempt to document this study has lead to a survey of my readings by art historians, theoreticians and philosophers on whose scholarship I relied heavily, for the theoretical principles that influenced my architectural work. The focus has been erudition and learning, that centers on process rather than on the world of temporal phenomena. At first, the architectural object was but a way to work through some of the processes, although, I realized with surprise that the work itself had gained a profound presence of its own, becoming an end in itself. / Master of Architecture

In scholarship discussing Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie’s self-realization is central to her identity, and many scholars view and discuss her as a cultural hero. But her success is conditional on circumstance rather than composition of character, a fact this essay explores through a careful comparison between Janie and Tweet, a character from Ellen Douglas’ Can’t Quit You, Baby; specifically, while Janie ultimately succeeds in her world—even while confronting gender oppression—she improbably avoids the additional, crippling subjugation of racial prejudice that Tweet endures. Through this and a discussion of definitions and Hurston’s work as a folklorist/writer, I attempt to show that Janie can be more effectively described as a folk hero, a title that: (1) accurately identifies her functions in her fictional society and in literary fiction and (2) satisfies Hurston’s goals in the novel while also accurately reflecting Janie’s journey to self fulfillment.